License Plate Recognition (LPR) improves campus security

April 12, 2021

University and college campuses experience various security challenges related to parking and vehicle access. Whether your biggest vehicle problem on campus is improper parking, parking access issues, or identifying repeat parking offenders, there are parking solutions to mitigate your issues and alert your security team for rapid response scenarios.

What is LPR?

License Plate Recognition (LPR) uses optical character recognition (OCR) algorithms to recognize and read vehicle registration plate numbers in video and still images of vehicles. LPR applications connect IP network cameras to plate recognition software and parking access software, providing automated security, approval and access, and a verified access record to your campus parking lots.

LPR has many names, including automatic number plate recognition, vehicle plate recognition, automatic vehicle identification, etc. These names refer to the same primary function, though implementation is diverse. For example, roadway applications use LPR for vehicle registration verification, automated toll collections, and forensic investigations. In addition, university campuses use LPR for parking access and compliance applications.

Plate recognition systems help municipal police departments to solve car theft and murder cases. Additionally, they provide forensic data in many traffic infractions and parking violation cases.

XProtect LPR Add-On

Milestone XProtect® LPR is an add-on for XProtect video management software (VMS) by Milestone Systems. It analyzes video data to recognize and read vehicle license plate information and then combines it with the corresponding video as metadata. With optimized recognition algorithms for more than 200 countries and states worldwide and advanced matching logic, your security team can compare recognized number plates with pre-defined lists and initiate automated actions, like smartphone app notifications, SMS messages, and email alerts.

XProtect Rapid REVIEW

XProtect Rapid REVIEW is an add-on product for video analytics, including LPR designed for “in the wild” surveillance scenarios. Milestone’s partner, BriefCam, employs a different approach to license plate capture. With Rapid REVIEW, organizations can leverage existing surveillance infrastructure to detect and track license plates in video from any IP camera. Operators can rapidly pinpoint vehicles of interest, manage whitelists, configure rule-based alerts, and visualize traffic analysis. Milestone makes XProtect Rapid REVIEW licensing easy by providing licenses by the camera instead of following the industry practice of bundling their licensing. This practice makes it easy for your campus to purchase what you need at a lower price than competing products.

Parking with LPR and Access Control

When LPR integrates with parking access software, it provides the ability to supercharge your parking access procedures. Multi-factor authentication can combine card swipes, code punches, and vehicle recognition algorithms to provide access approval to your secured parking areas. Automated LPR can trigger gates or traffic arms for parking access or lower automatic bollards for approved vehicle access. Unapproved vehicles could be flagged and recorded with video surveillance, providing an SMS alert or cell phone notification to on-site security personnel for rapid remediation or vehicle removal.

Traffic Control for LPR

Another potential on-campus use for LPR is in speed control and crosswalk compliance on your campus roadways. For example, if a vehicle crosses an occupied and monitored crosswalk, it puts pedestrians in danger. The VMS system with LPR can provide a video record and flag license plate data for rapid remediation.

Milestone’s XProtect open platform and the XProtect LPR add-on is a powerful solution that links your existing or augmented video surveillance cameras to your entry/exit access software and your other campus control systems.

Campus police and security departments can respond more quickly and enable favorable resolutions to your campus parking and traffic challenges. In addition, Milestone’s XProtect and the XProtect LPR add-on can work with your existing infrastructure or scale across your campus, or even be flexible enough to work in a multisite campus setting.

If you’re interested in learning more about XProtect LPR, contact us for a demo. Our team of security experts would like to show you how you can solve your parking problems while enhancing security on campus.

About Milestone Systems:

Milestone Systems is a leading provider of open platform video management software; technology that helps the world see how to ensure safety, protect assets and increase business efficiency. Milestone enables an open platform community that drives collaboration and innovation in the development and use of network video technology, with reliable and scalable solutions that are proven in more than 500,000 customer sites worldwide. Founded in 1998, Milestone is a stand-alone company in the Canon Group. For more on information on education solutions visit this page. 

Tags
Ready to see what we have to offer with smart video technology? 
Book a demo
Related content
License plate enhancement: fact or fiction?
License Plate Recognition helps capture data and facilitate rapid investigations
Keep your school safe with intuitive, data-driven analytics
You will be logged out in
5 minutes and 0 seconds
For your security, sessions automatically end after 15 minutes of inactivity unless you choose to stay logged in.